Witness identifies NI murder suspect

ONE of two Belfast men on trial for the murders of loyalists Joe Bratty and Raymond Elder was identified yesterday in the dock…

ONE of two Belfast men on trial for the murders of loyalists Joe Bratty and Raymond Elder was identified yesterday in the dock at Belfast Crown Court.

Giving evidence screened from the public gallery, Witness E pointed to Mr Sean Clinton and said he was the person he had picked out at an ID parade as the" man he had seen leaning out of a red Sierra and shouting "We got the bastards".

Earlier another witness whet saw the shooting described seeing the gunman get into the back of a red Ford which sped off down the Ormeau Road towards the city centre. Mr Clinton (26), from Mountforde Drive, and Mr James McCormick (26), Friendly Street, Belfast, have denied the murders of Bratty and Elder on July 31st, 1994.

A gunman opened fire on Bratty's car as he was about to drive off after leaving the Kimberley Bar. The men were killed as they attempted to run away, while two other men in the vehicle escaped death by ducking down in the back.

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Yesterday Witness E said the car in which he was travelling up the Ormeau Road had stopped in a line of cars at Hatfield Street when he saw a red Sierra travelling down the road at speed.

"I noticed a man hanging out of the front passenger window. He had his left fist clenched and was shouting, `We got the bastards, we got the bastards'," the witness told the court.

He said the red car turned into Hatfield Street across the front of his car and the man was about three or four feet from him. "I got a front view of him to start with, then as the car turned, a side view. He was the focus of my attention and there was nothing obstructing my view."

Evidence in the trial continues today.